Drop Sets

The Smartest Way To Build Muscle Fast

To set this up into an MA drop set, you would start the chest press at a high incline, work to failure/fatigue, then drop the incline a bit. That is, with each successive set, you lower the incline and continue to work. You’ll wind up being able to perform several reps despite being fatigued. This is because you’re stronger in that position (lower incline) than you were in the previous one.Of course, this can be done with any body part and with nearly any exercise. Let’s flip it and look at back training. Here’s a video of an example:

In this video, fitness author Vince Del Monte (check out his Top 10 Supplement Myths) performs a Mechanical Advantage Drop Set of pull-ups with my guidance.

Vince starts out with a wide-grip pull-up. With his hands pronated and his arms splayed out, he is in the weakest mechanical position, based on which muscles will be at work in the exercise, as well as how the leverage of his arms will come into play.By changing his hand and arm position from the weakest to ones that are more mechanically advantageous, Vince is able to perform more reps with each successive change, even though it's obvious that he's gone to failure on the previous set.Despite the fact that he is fatiguing throughout the entire ordeal, by moving from weaker to stronger position, Vince completes an impressive number of reps, allowing for increased time under tension without a decrease in weight. To stay with back training, you could also do this bent over row: Start with a wide-grip overhand row, then move to narrow grip and finally finish with an underhand row. As an aside, in nearly any back exercise, the underhand (or supinated) grip is going to be the strongest, because it puts your biceps in their stronger mechanical position, allowing for greater assistance.Moving on, you may be wondering: Why are MADS better than traditional drop sets?Well, in short, it's a matter of load. As I mentioned previously, with traditional drop sets, you're keeping your position static and decreasing the weight to perform more reps. With MADS, the weight stays the same the entire time — the entire set is done with heavy weight.Now, as any bodybuilder will tell you, there is certainly some merit in training with lighter weights, at least in the sense that doing so allows you to train with high volume and frequency without impeding recovery too much.But, speaking generally, most people are going to get a lot more out of consistently using more challenging weights. Not only will you get stronger, but lifting heavy weights also has more applicability to relative strength and to sports. Finally, training with heavier weights is better for fat loss, at least when compared to similar volume and rest periods.With MADS, your weight is consistently heavy, and you get to push to fatigue and beyond, forcing more and more muscle fibers to be recruited with each rep and each mechanical change. It's an advanced method and certainly isn't easy, but if you're looking for a way to challenge yourself and force your body to grow, I think you've just found it. Give this method a shot, and let us know how you like it in the comments!